A People with a Purpose: Fellowship
A People with a Purpose: Fellowship by Rev. L. John Gable
March 26, 2023
During this season of Lent we have looked together at the purpose of the Church and examined our reasons for being. We have determined that the Church’s primary purpose is to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ and as the people of God we are called to participate in worship, witness and mission to the end that we might grow up in to the likeness of Christ, into Christian maturity, and so echo the call of Christ to others. Today, we add a fifth and final purpose for the Church’s existence: fellowship.
I asked the folks at the pastors’ Bible study this past Wednesday morning what is it about the fellowship of the Church that is different than the fellowship and friendships we enjoy in other organizations we belong to? It is a question I will invite you to consider for yourself: what is different about what we do in here together than what we do with others out there? The answers we came up varied, but there was shared agreement that the Church was, is and always will be the fellowship of those who live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, He is our defining center. So, while it is true that the Christian faith can be intensely personal, it is never intended to remain private. Simply put, we are not, cannot be, Christians on our own. Christianity is essentially a shared or community affair.
So what is it that makes Christian fellowship and friendship distinctive from that which we know and enjoy in other settings? Those other clubs and organizations also have important reasons for being, not to mention the enjoyment and sense of purpose we receive by being a part of them, so what it is that makes Christian fellowship somehow different?
As we consider that question, let me admit on behalf of all of us that our experience of life in the church is not, or has not always been, or will not always be, as good as we sometimes make it out to be. We are not always as good in practice as we are on paper. Someone penned this verse in the Middle Ages, “The church is much like Noah’s Ark. If it weren’t for the storm on the outside you couldn’t stand the smell on the inside.” And more recently one wrote, “To dwell above with those we love, that will be grace and glory; to dwell below with those we know, now that’s a different story.” Admittedly, we are the Church in process of becoming the body God has designed and intends us to be, not fully formed or mature; yet still we are the Church and something very special happens when we gather together in Christian fellowship. So, what is that special quality?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that we have, what he calls, a “mediated relationship” with one another. “Christ stands between us and God, and for that reason He stands between us and all others.” It is because of who Christ is to me and who Christ is to you that we are bound together and our bond of fellowship can be so close. It is that relationship with Christ which each us enjoys that allows our friendships and sharing to reach new heights and go to new depths. Bonhoeffer elsewhere writes of our life together, “It is not what a person is in him (or her) self as a Christian, not their spirituality or their piety, which constitutes our life together. What determines our unity is what that person is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us.” The glue that holds us together as the Church is a spiritual bond of love, not just our love or enjoyment of one another, which admittedly at times can be tested and strained, but God’s love for us in Jesus Christ which never changes. This same idea is picked up by Donald Baillie when he writes, “It is only in Christ that we can enjoy full community with one another, and it is only in our togetherness with one another that we can enjoy full communion with Christ.”
This gives us a framework to understand what we read in the second chapter of Acts. Just prior to our reading for today, Luke records the events of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples and they were literally exploded out on to the streets of Jerusalem witnessing about the resurrected Jesus. You will recall that there were people from every nation gathered in that city for the festival of Pentecost, and miraculously each heard the disciples speaking in their own native tongue. The disciple Peter began preaching and when he finished, we read, “Those who welcomed his message were baptized and that day about three thousand persons were added.” That would have been a powerful way for Luke to close chapter 2, perhaps even the whole book of Acts, but instead he writes on to impress upon us that the Christian life is not just about hype and hoopla; it is about a changed way of living and being together. Our faith has as much to do with Monday morning as it does Sunday morning, our relationships with one another as it does our relationship with Christ.
Luke describes life in the early church in this way, “They (meaning these new believers) devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (by this we would understand continued instruction in learning the ways of Jesus from those who knew Him best), and fellowship (the quality of their life together which Luke will go on to explain in the following verses), to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” What this suggests is that there is a certain sameness about life before and after we come to faith. First century believers still went to the Temple and offered their prayers. We still live in the same families, hold the same jobs, have the same friends. There is a continuity between the old and the new, but as we come to faith and the Spirit of Christ takes us residency within us, we also experience an added dimension, a new depth or level of commitment to one another because of our shared faith in Jesus. We read on in Acts, “They sold their possessions and had all things in common. They gave to any who had need. They broke bread together with glad and generous hearts, and enjoyed the goodwill of all the people.” What Luke is describing here is a change, not just in their individual spiritual lives or their personal relationship with God, but in their shared life together. Perhaps there was a certain amount of necessity forced on them to form new bonds of friendship and support as many new converts were ostracized from their families and friends and communities of faith once they professed Jesus as the Promised Messiah, but of greater importance, their fellowship was marked and shaped by the presence of the Holy Spirit of God which changed the way they saw and related to one another. This is what makes Christian fellowship different than any other friendship or fellowship we may enjoy, the presence of the Spirit of God, in us and among us. Our relationship with one another is formed, guided and empowered by our relationship with God. Again, ours is a “mediated relationship”; just as the Spirit of Christ is within us, so it also stands between us. We come to see “the other” as a brother or sister in Christ. As one has put it, “I belong to Christ. You belong to Christ. We belong together.”
Luke tells us that the Church began to grow rapidly in the first century. I believe this was in part due to the power of the preaching and teaching and witnessing that was going on, as well as the signs and wonders which the apostles demonstrated, but I also believe the Church was growing because people were able to see a difference in the way those early Christians lived their lives and related to one another. There was a difference in the quality of their care and love for one another, particularly with those with whom they otherwise would have disagreed or not related to, and that difference was inviting. Friends, I believe that people are looking for that same difference still today. They are looking for the opportunity to do life together with those who are varied in thought and experience and background, who can hold different opinions and perspectives, without falling in to the battle lines of ostracism, polarization and isolation. I know of no other club or organization that is better suited to live that kind of life together than the Church because we are bound together, not simply because we necessarily agree with one another (we don’t) or even particularly like each other (we mostly do, but not always), but because we are united under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I believe any Church of the future, as it was in the Church of the past, that can learn to live together despite their differences will not only survive but will thrive; but in order for that to happen we have to do something more than just nod our heads in agreement with that principle of shared fellowship as a nice ideal, we will also have to commit ourselves to putting it in to practice, individually and collectively. If we do that I believe the Church, this church Tab, will become increasingly more attractive to those who are seeking a place of refuge from the storm of polarization which permeates our culture; and if we do not, I believe those same seekers will continue to look for other options and consider us to be obsolete regardless of what we profess to believe.
I’ll close with a beautiful story told by Scott Peck which speaks to the innate calling of the Church and the attraction we can have to those around us.
There was once a monastery that had fallen on very hard times. What had once been a large, vibrant order had, for a variety of reasons, dwindled to a community of only five monks, all over the age of 70, living in a decaying mother house on beautiful grounds near a woods. In the woods was a retreat house used occasionally by a rabbi from a nearby town, but the monks never had any contact with him.
One day, as he agonized over the demise of the monastery, the abbot decided to ask the advice of the rabbi to see if he had any ideas on how to revive the order. The two men of faith talked at length, but the rabbi lamented that he had no words of wisdom. As he said his good-bye to the abbot, the rabbi said the only glimmer of hope he could offer was the possibility that perhaps they might discover the Messiah to be living among them; then the two men parted.
In the days and weeks that followed, the abbot pondered those strange parting words of the rabbi, and finally shared them with the other monks. They almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought. Certainly the Messiah couldn’t be among them! Yet the more they spoke, the more each of them, deep down, began to consider the possibility. If the Messiah was among them, which of them might he be? There were definite reasons why each of the five couldn’t be the Promised One, and yet, the more they reflected, they also saw that each of the old monks had a special quality that indicated that God was working in and through them. Maybe, just maybe, the old rabbi was right. Maybe the Messiah was among them. After this they began to see one another in a new light, and began to treat each other with extraordinary respect.
Because the area around the monastery was so beautiful, people occasionally came to ask if they could picnic on the grounds or pray in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed a difference in the life among the brothers there. A renewed hope and a profound respect seemed to radiate from the five old monks. There was something compelling about their attitudes, and people began to return much more often. Soon, they were bringing their friends who in turn brought their friends. Some of the younger men who came regularly started to visit with the old monks and soon one asked if he could join them, and then another, and another. Within a few years the monastery was, once again, a thriving order, a vibrant center of spiritual light and hope.
Friends, the Church was, is and always will be a fellowship of those who live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our behavior and attitudes toward one another, the way we do life together, is shaped by His life with us, within us and between us. We are the Church, a people with a purpose, called to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ, through worship, witness, mission, maturity and fellowship, to the end that the world might know the glory of God and His saving mercy and grace.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN